TOKYO – Japan reported a trade surplus of 670.17 billion yen ($5.932 billion) in September, almost six times higher than in the previous month, the government reported on Thursday.

The September surplus represented a 37.7 percent increase year-on-year and was the fourth consecutive month of trade surplus of the world’s third largest economy, following the downward revision of the data for May, when it slipped into deficit, according to data published by the Ministry of Finance.